Some chemistry students at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, put together a chemistry show for high school students as a way of showing them that chemistry can be interesting and fun.

One of the skits was the “exploding pumpkin” routine.  They  combined hydrogen peroxide, which reacts with the inside of the pumpkin to form oxygen and water, with calcium carbonide to create a gas. Two minutes later, the gas was ignited, blowing pre-cut sections out of the pumpkin.

“I think we’re convincing some people,” said senior Teresa Beary, president of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society. “We’ve had the biggest crowds today of any time we’ve done demonstrations. Any time you include explosions in a public place, people are going to come.”

Click to play the video.

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